Thárros and Hýbris: the Different Faces of Motherhood in Assisted Reproduction

This paper aims to explore, within the social imagination, the emotions experienced by a woman who turns to assisted reproductive technologies due to infertility or for professional reasons—that is, a woman who decides to conceive a child for a commissioning couple.This analysis focuses on several questions included in a broader study conducted between December 2024 and January 2025, titled “Medically Assisted Reproduction, Surrogacy, and Artificial Wombs: New Ethical and Sociocultural Challenges” (PRIN2022). For data collection, 890 questionnaires were administered using the CAWI method to a sample of individuals residing in Italy who were over 25 years of age.The results reveal a social perception of women and men. While men attribute to women who turn to reproductive technologies emotional drives linked to the sphere of the self, in the female imagination, recognised emotions fall within the spheres of relationships and the social. These are emotional drives of a social and relational nature that are shaped within the framework of socially recognised expectations and norms.